Stop me if you have heard this before.
A dragonborn, a human and two ½ orcs walk into a sewer…..
The party descended once again, into the tunnels and sewers beneath Stonekeep. They were looking for a rat catcher, the last loose end of a plot to further the ends of some unnamed death cult.
They made their way along the route they told this rat catcher travels. After a few miles of trekking through poo water they saw a bit of light up ahead. They rounded a bend and entered a big sewer cistern. There was an out-pipe but the poo water level hadn’t reached it yet. There they found two city watchmen and a ragged gentlemen with a squirmy potato sack and two large live traps full of rats. The party began to approach and talk to them, but there was no response. As the moved closer they could see that these three men looked awake and alive but were not breathing. It was then that three giant tentacle legged worm monsters dropped from the ceiling, crawled up from the cistern and came walking down the tunnel. A group of Carrion Crawlers and behind them down the tunnel was a group of cultists drive them forward with spears.
The battle began with the party splitting up to take down the big angry tentacle caterpillars. The rouge and warrior tried to dislodge the crawler on the ceiling, but had little luck with that. The barbarian began attacking the cistern and other ceiling crawler. He was able to shake off the creature’s paralytic tentacles. The monk moved toward the advancing crawler and cultists. The creatures lashed out with their tentacles and managed to paralyze a few party members, but never for very long. This group was just not having any of that! Eventually the creatures all fell to a combination of swords, daggers, fists, maces and a dwarven greatsword. The cultists also followed suit.
The rat catcher and guardsmen eventually broke free from their paralytic stupor. The guardsmen were here on their monthly patrol with the rat catcher guild. The rat catcher was questioned about the cedar boxes. He mentioned how a blond tall human came and offered him 30 gold to go place an order for a small cedar box. That was all. He never returned to pick it up. He had no idea what it was for or who wanted it . he was a bit tipsy at the Slaughtered Hog when this guy walked in and offered him this job. He said his name was Mr. Johnson. It was easy money. The party now had a description of a potential threat, some blonde human dude named Mr. Johnson. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
They continued down the tunnels with the guards and rat catcher until they found a section of tunnel where the wall had collapsed. Behind it was another tunnel somewhat rough cut, but with a cobblestone floor. The rat catcher walks these tunnels all the time, and this wall collapse was new. The party decided to have the guards escort the rat catcher back to their tower to keep him safe. They then moved down this side tunnel.
After walking and descending further down they found a door. The rouge found no traps and they opened it. As the door swung open an alarm sounded! Yup missed that check for sure. They cut the rope setting off the small ringing bells. They cautiously moved on until they saw the familiar sight of bloated dead bodies moving toward them. The same bodies that explode with worms and poison they had fought before. They knew to keep their distance and attack with a barrage of ranged weapons. They dropped the quartet of bloated zombie bombs without getting near them. They continued onward.
Eventually , they arrived at a large dimly lit room. From the entry way they could see the floor undulating. Throughout the room were no less than twenty of the maggot pits they had encountered at the farm last week. Along the walls were another dozen of the bloated walking corpse bombs, but they were not moving. The group began to make their way through the room. The barbarian and monk arrived safely to the other side. The warrior and rouge both stepped on loose stones. Once this happened they were showered with giant centipedes, worms and maggots from the ceiling. The bloated corpses also began to shamble forward. The centipedes began to bite and inject a weak poison. The bloated bodies moved ever closer. The rouge and warrior ran forward slapping worms, centipedes and maggots from their face, clothes and gear. They were able to shake off the poison being injected into them and easily out distanced the bloat zombies shuffling their way.
That was until they reached a dead end. Well a dead end with a secret door built into it. Once again no traps were found so they slid it open. Inside they discovered a giant room with a deep dark pit in the center. Suspended in midair above the pit was a large platform. Atop this platform were all manner of candles, four hooded statues, two cages housing twitchy undead, three fancy robed figures and roughly a dozen cultist all in some state of ritual chanting.
Knowing this couldn’t be good the party drew weapons and launched into battle!
The lead robed priest screamed for the ritual to not be interrupted and that the final time was upon them. The cultists moved to intercept the party. The priest launched beams of green energy into the monk. The barbarian and rouge began to cut down cultists, only for them to stand back up with their wounds healing moments later. The warrior rushed around and tried to cave in the skulls of remove the heads of any fallen cultists hoping to keep them from getting back up. The two lesser robed priests rushed to the cages to guard them. A band of cultist surrounded the lead priest. The rouge rushed after him, only to be ambushed by a floating magical sword and a few other cultists. The barbarian made for a nearby cage and shoved a cultist off the platform into the pit. When this happened the room began to quake and a strange light began to glow from the depths.
Lesser priests began to unleash spells on the monk. He was peppered with magical arrows and had his body racked with painful energy. The lead priest summoned thick black tentacles to attack and entwine the party. The first cage was opened and the undead corpse within rushed to leap into the pit. The room shoo yet again. The eyes of the statues began to light up. Cultist began to shove their fallen brethren into the pit!
The rouge was over extended and had to retreat back to heal himself with a draught of magical potion. The monk was trying to dodge weapons and spells. The barbarian was slowly whittling down the cultist and then got his sword into the belly of one of the lesser priests. The leader of the cult rushed toward the cage to release the second undead creature. The monk intervened after taking out the cultists surrounding him. He leapt over the pit full of strobing lights. He landed and attacked the undead creature. As he struck a barrage of worms flew off the creature and landed on him. They started to burrow into his flesh. He ignored this and continued to swing away the undead creature to try and keep it from leaping into the pit.
Speaking of the pit…… the light show had stopped and the air in the room felt like it was being sucked down in the darkness below. It was then that a loud roar was heard for below. That was followed by a giant hand comprised of all manner of worms, centipedes and maggots rose up from the depths. It grabbed onto the lip of the platform almost like it was trying to get leverage to pull the rest of a body up from the depths.
Across the platform the remaining priest and a solitary cultist began to shove bodies off the platform. From below a deep ethereal voice bellowed “More! Give me more!” Once the bodies of the dead were gone the priest turned on his cultist brother and tried shoving him into the pit as well.
Meanwhile the monk put down the worm encrusted undead creature and quickly began pulling and cutting worms from his flesh. The lead priest lashed out with a strange mace as a last defense. He knew he would not survive this battle, but he only needed to buy a little more time. Then his dark master would rise! The city would be destroyed and the “Worm that Walks” his would be free again! Another giant wormy hand rose from the depths and latched onto the lip of the platform. The bellowing voice continued to call for more bodies. More bodies sacrificed in his name!
The ½ orc warrior made it over to the try and stop the lesser priest from shoving his cult brother into the pit. He did not make it in time and another body fell to the void below. The lead priest knew that all it would take would be two more and there were ample bodies still to feed to his master! He raised his mace to bash the barbarian in front of him, but the blow never fell. He was struck down by a combination of blows from the rouge behind him and the giant sword run through him by the barbarian. His last action before his vison dimmed was to stumble backwards toward the edge of the platform.
The barbarian grabbed a hold of the priest as he started to fall off the ledge. The final sacrifice needed would not happen!
The remaining cultists were dispatched as the lead priest was dying. Their bodies were not allowed to fall below either. The being from below began to scream. It’s grasp on the platform began to weaken. Its worm formed fingers began to deteriorate. It pleaded for just one more body. It made promises of wealth and power. The room began to quake. Pieces of ceiling began to fall. The sound of exploding corpses and worm pits could be heard from down the hallway. A torrent of hot wind blew up from below tossing wormy bits into the air. The last bits of the being’s hands fell apart. A loud reverberating “NO!” came from the depths, and then silence.
The summoning had been stopped. The room was silent. The pit was dark again. They party collected themselves and made for the surface. The secret threat to Stonekeep and the world had been stopped and only these four people would ever know about it.
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